Pitter patter

"Rats! RATS!"

The magician twisted against the restraints. Doctor Patrice von Temeschwar hated this, hated that her patient was in so much pain. Soaked in sweat, eyes staring at horrors only he could see. She mopped his brow with a damp cloth. She tried to smooth his lank hair back, speaking in a soothing voice.

"Please, Cartagia. You have to take your medicine. It will make the nightmares stop, I promise you."

Cartagia twisted away, soaked in sweat, deep in the grip of the cursed wounds all over his body. Rat bites. Rat scratches. Bearing a contagion of the spirit, as well as a pestilence of the body, one that made it impossible for the patient to tell what was real and what wasn't. Trapping them in a waking nightmare.

"You want to fill me with rats!" he shouted, foam speckling on his lips. "Rats! Up inside me! Wherever they can get in, they burrow in! RATS!"

He lurched against her, knocking the bowl out of her hand and spilling the juice within all over the floor. She counted to ten internally, reminding herself that this was not Cartagia's fault, and trying not to think about how expensive the ingredients were for the preparation he had just spilled. She glanced over to the other two magicians - a sturdy Steinr Runesmith and a concerned Freeborn scholar.

"I think you're right," she said a little regretfully. "We'll need the Solace of Chimes, or we're going to lose him. He won't let me treat him!"

The Steiner nodded quickly and left to gather her coven. The Freeborn gently squeezed Patrice's shoulder, offering what solace she could.

In the bed, tangled in the sheets, Cartagia continued to howl and shout, his voice hoarse.

"RAAAAATS!" he bellowed. "Inside you! They were wearing him! Wearing him like a suit!"

There is a maze beneath Temeschwar, and something dark and terrible broods deep beneath the city streets.

Overview

For the last six months, Temeschwar has been beset by rats. They emerged shortly after the Winter Solstice. "High points" included attacks of Virtue's Respite and Lorenzo's Great Game, and the reasonably high profile murder of the apothecary Ernesto di Temeschwar.

There have been rumours of something dark in the tunnels and sewers under Temeschwar for years, perhaps even centuries. Recent stories claimed there was a creature of some kind, slain by warriors hired by the vyig with the aid of a weapon provided by the volodny known as Shadowsmith. Yet the vyig are gone, and the volodny has not been seen in some years now. The message left on the wall by the gnawed bones of Ernesto di Temeschwar - SHADOWSMITH IS DEAD YOU FOOL - strongly suggests something permanent may have happened to that undying artisan.

Riding it Out

• Farms in Temeschwar received an additional 18 rings over the coming season
• Congregations did not benefit from the Bloody Great Theatre, nor did businesses benefit from Lorenzo’s Great Game
• Military units in Temescwhar that take the paid work action received an additional 18 rings
• The Chatelaine of the Reapers' Repose received an additional throne

At the Spring Equinox, the Temeschwar Chamber of Commerce met to decide what to do about the situation. Two proposals were aid before the business owners of the city - one from the Wardog Kennels of Temeschwar and the other from the Guild of the Green Flower. After a great deal of discussion, the Chamber voted to ride it out for the time being rather than risk precipitous action making things worse - and to give the Unfettered Mind an opportunity to investigate the situation.

Anyone able to do so seizes any opportunity to get out of the city. They visit friends or family abroad, or take the opportunity to visit the Reapers' Repose. Poorer citizens just have to make the most of it. An epidemic of rat bites sees a lot of business for physicks, but also sees a wave of sickness in the city. Symptoms that needed to be treated by a physick include persistent nausea and mild hallucinations involving being watched by rats. If the illness is left for too long, it gets worse, and there are reports of patients unable to keep down wholesome food driven to feast on refuse that exposes those not fortunate enough to have the draughir lineage to further sickness. The hallucinations of rats get worse, and there are two patients who have to be treated for blood-loss after becoming convinced that rats are somehow inside them. So far the sickness has proved treatable with medicine brewed from bladeroot, but the worst cases have also required a suffusion of prismatic ink to help chase away the delusions of rats. Still, the doctors of Temeschwar are holding their own, for now.

Seers and Shitpipes

• The Conclave asked the Unfettered Mind to look into matters in Temeschwar
• A number of League military captains came to Temeschwar to help protect people and businesses from the rats

A labyrinth lies beneath Temeschwar. It has some claim to be the oldest city in the League - built by the Varushkans in pre-Imperial times, some historians claim the first settlement here pre-dates the arrival of the Highborn by a century or more. The maze of sewers and tunnels beneath Temeschwar are further complicated by entire streets roofed over and repurposed as the city grew. There are stories of explorers or builders finding entire lost cellars or basements or in some cases ground-floor rooms sunk in the earth. There are a few maps, but they are cursory at best and include only the main tunnels used by gongfarmers, toshers, ratcatchers, and criminals.

Conclave request the Order of the Unfettered Mind is sent to investigate the rat problem in Temeschwar.

Grandmaster Eliza, on behalf of the Unfettered Mind

Rat Hunters

Nicamo Van Dire

Ludovig Von Temeschwar

Einar Cruz

Albrecht Von Holberg

Florian von Temeschwar

Hans Von Utterlund

Karoly van Temeschwar

Alexis Dukov van Temeschwar

Viktor von Temeschwar

The Imperial Conclave chose to ask the Unfettered Mind to explore the obvious magic at work in the city. They chose not to ask the Rod and Shield to protect the magical scholars - they were travelling to one of the largest cities in the Empire what could go wrong? Fortunately for the Unfettered Minds magicians, there were a number of captains who brought their soldiers to Temeschwar to help deal with the rat problem. Their efforts have ensured that while several magicians were hurt none have been killed. This time.

The order is able to confirm that there is magic at work. The rats are clearly being influenced. A series of increasingly bizarre traps are used to capture some of the creatures for proper examination - the cunning creatures easily avoid traditional rat-traps much to the frustration of Temeschwar's rat catchers. The first thing the magicians are able to confirm is that this is not the result of a curse - dispelling fears that this was some machination of the Hag Queen. Not all the rats are ensorcelled - rough estimates suggest that about one in twelve has an aura similar to an enchantment but of undetectable provenance.

One particularly savvy scholar from Holberg brings their own cage of rats with them, and believes that it is only the rats of Temeschwar that are effected. Even allowing for the fact that their rats are pets and companions rather than wild creatures, they remain placid and friendly throughout their stay in the city. Even exposure to Temeschwari rats under controlled condition produce no change in their behaviour - but it's clear that the domesticated rats are even more terrified of the Temeschwari sewer rats than the people are.

Rodents of Assorted Sizes

• As well as the packs and swarms of rats, two other creatures have been reported by the Unfettered Mind

The rat swarms, where dozens to hundreds of rats boil out of the sewers or abandoned buildings and indiscriminately attack people, are only one aspect of the situation. The Unfettered Mind are able to observe two other horrors lurking in the tunnels and sewers that appear to be much more careful bout being seen. The first are massive, bloated rats larger than a wolf. They're usually spotted solo, or surrounded by more normally-sized rats. If they have the advantage they attack with horrible savagery - a Wintermark magician who ends up on the wrong end of their attack likens it to being mauled by a small chittering bear. The minute a fight seems to turn against them, they scamper away, deftly avoiding attempts to trap them. So far they've not been seen above-ground, only encountered in tunnels and basements.

The second creature, there is only one sighting of, and it is not entirely reliable. Cartagia of Windfall Spire is a refined and self-centred scholar, the last person one would expect to wander around a sewer. Indeed, the clever scholar spends most of his time organising his fellows and maintaining a base of operations in apartments hired from a merchant-prince keen to get out of the city. So when they are found covered in bites, delerious, wandering the streets with their robes in rags, it's clear something has gone wrong. The healers manage to save their life, but only just. The story they tell is sobering and more than a little chilling. A Temeschwari fellow came to see them at their apartments, bluffing their way past the door. When the two were alone, the man collapsed, a horde of blood-thirsty rats pouring out of his mouth. To his horror, Cartagia discovered that the man was nothing more than a hollow shell - a "suit" of skin worn by a small horde of rats. He managed to escape by throwing himself out of the window, but has no idea what happened after that. The problem with Cartagia's story is that nobody else has seen anything like this... and the magician was clearly suffering dreadful hallucinations bought on by rat bites and scratches. Is it possible he imagined this? Or are there among the people of Temeschwar people who are actually packs of sewer rats wearing hollowed-out person suits?

Things that Don't Work

• The Unfettered Mind experiment with a number of rituals

Among other experiments, the Unfettered Mind employ a number of rituals to see if they might offer some assistance against the rats. All three of the commonly known wards - Hold Back Frozen Hunger and There Is No Welcome Here are both equally ineffective at dealing with the rats - meaning they are neither unliving horrors nor creatures of the realms. One of the Highborn magicians, being almost over-thorough, also confirms that the Ward of the Black Waste does not work. There is some further experimentation with Winter magic wards, lead by a coven of cabalists from Varushka, and they managed to confirm that it is possible to build a ward against the rat swarms. The problem is that it's almost entirely impractical - seven crystal mana to ward a room against rats for a day is incredibly uneconomical. Even if the ritual were scaled up to last for an entire month, it would still be around magnitude twenty-three putting it outside the reach of all save the richest, and in no way a long-term solution to the problem.

Attempts to track the rats with magic fail, in the maze of tunnels under the city. The magicians who try it invariably get attacked by rat swarms, and forced to retreat even with the protection of League mercenaries. They're able to say with some certainty however that whatever the source of the rat plague is, it's somewhere under the city. Some of the Varushkans go further - they talk about the texture of the darkness, and the sensation of being watched, in ominous tones. Parts of the undercity are without doubt the domain of a powerful, malign force. They can't be absolutely certain what that force is - but they narrow it down to either a very potent herald of a hostile eternal, or most likely a previously unknown sovereign. Castings of Shadowed Glass of Sung and Clear Lens of the Eternal River add further credence to this theory. In certain places, especially the oldest sewer tunnels and the small number of winding stone passages that seem to predate them, the Night ritual identifies that the mystery or enigma at work here is that they are "Part of the domain of the King of Rats".

Shadowsmith and the Vyig

• The Unfettered Mind find evidence that the volodny known as Shadowsmith has been destroyed

The Unfettered Mind are also able to confirm that all the signs indicate the volodny known as Shadowsmith is indeed no more. Exploring some of the old tunnels, they come across what appears to be a richly appointed apartment deep beneath the city. The Clear Lens of the Eternal River is employed and to the shock of the League magicians who perform it, it indicates that his place is "Where the volodny Shadowsmith was devoured by the King of Rats." The place has clearly been looted - there is no sign of a body or any artisan tools, but the ritual is very clear. Rumours that Shadowsmith has been destroyed appear to be correct. What is this King of Rats that they could overpower and devour an old and powerful magician like the Shadowsmith? One who was thought to be immortal?

King of Rats (Conjunction)

• Brinton von Temeschwar claims to have a token that will allow safe contact with the King of Rats
• This conjunction is a combat unlikely encounter
• He is prepared to sell it for a sizable amount of money
• A conjunction has been identified on the Sentinel Gate at 15:45 on Saturday leading to the Old Priory Inn in Temeschwar, Hanuri
• Brinton has asked the Grandmaster of the Unfettered Mind to put together a suitable party to come speak with him

There may be an answer to that last. During their exploration of the city the Unfettered Mind have several encounters with Brinton von Temeschwar, an older man with a reputation for having spent a lot of time touring the League cities in his youth "getting into scrapes" (or, depending who you ask, engaging in criminal acts appropriate to a committed mountebank.) Brinton seems very interested in how the investigation is going, happy to share stories of the grim history of the city, and offer mostly useless advice about places the magicians might like to look.

Shortly before the Summer Solstice, however, he sends a message to Anvil along with one of the Temeschwari members of the order. He would be interested to meet with the Grandmaster of the order, and up to four other folk with an interest in the situation in Temeschwar. Brinton, it seems, has in his possession a token that will allow someone to have a meeting with the "true power of Temeschwar" - and survive the experience - and is prepared to sell it to an interested party if the price is right. And by "right" he means "high". A conjunction has been identified on the Sentinel Gate at quarter-to-four in the afternoon on Saturday that will allow a small party to travel to The Old Priory - an inn in Temeschwar.

The Oldest Guild

• One Temeschwari guild seems to favour the current situation - the Rat Kings
• A conjunction of the Sentinel Gate opens to the alley behind their favourite tavern in Temeschwar at 19.00 on Friday evening
• They've asked for the Senator for Temeschwar to select some representatives of the Chamber of Commerce to come speak to them

One guild seems to actually welcome the current chaos. The Rat Kings are Temeschwar's self-described pre-eminent collective of rat-catchers, sewer Walkers, and nightsoil collectors guild. They claim to be the one of the oldest (if not the oldest) guilds in the city, and say they can trace the origins back to the first loose association of people with wheelbarrows and shovels, finding wealth in the leavings of others. They talk a big game, but its notable that while they may be old, and omnipresent, they don't seem to be particularly rich. Or, if they are, they hide it well.

Still, it can't be denied that they are good at what they do. Their members have an unerring sense of direction underground, and supply excellent guides to anyone who wants to explore the twisted maze beneath the city streets. Their maps are a bit better and more detailed, but their main advantage is their ability to know where they are at all times, even if they don't necessarily know where they are going. Adventurers exploring the sewers are advised to throw a crown or two to the Rat Kings, to secure one of their pipeguides. Those who don't tend to end up lost, emerging from the sewers covered in rat bites and an inordinate amount of foulness.

They're quite good at hunting rats, too, and by all accounts they are doing very well out of the chaos in the city. They've gone on record several times as saying the Chamber of Commerce made the aboslute right decision to let people look after themselves. Wardogs are big, stupid, dangerous beasts barely suited to be around civilised people. The Guild of the Green Flower are jumped-up chancers, incapable of the precision needed to use poison safely in a built-up area, and doing nobody any favours by trying to muscle-in on the business of true professionals.

It does not escape notice that the Rat Kings are remarkably unconcerned about the rat swarms, or the rumours of larger and stranger creatures. Their members shrug nonchalantly and suggest that these things are all in a day's work for the pre-eminent guild of collective of rat-catchers, sewer Walkers, and nightsoil collectors. It's also interesting that the Merchant-Prince of their guild is only ever referred to as "King" or "King Rat" and nobody can quite remember ever having actually met them.

One doesn't need to be a member of a Conclave order to find all this a little bit suspicious.

The Terrier's Roar (Conjunction)

• An opportunity exists to visit Temeschwar to speak with some of the officers of the Rat Kings guild
• A conjunction of the Sentinel Gate will reach the alley behind their favourite tavern at 7pm Friday evening
• The Senator of Temeschwar - Giuseppe Sanguineo von Temeschwar - has been asked to put together a small delegation

In previous seasons, members of the Rat Kings have visited Anvil a few times, but they are obviously a little too busy right now to take time away from fleecing as much money as possible out of people who want to keep rats out of their pantries. Still, they've made no secret of the fact they're keen to offer there services to the Chamber of Commerce. When it becomes apparent that there is a conjunction of the Sentinel Gate that will open in the alley behind the Guilds official tavern in Temeschwar, the Terriers Roar, they're extremely keen to see it used. The conjunction opens at seven in the evening on the Friday, and they have asked that the Senator for Temeschwar - Giuseppe Sanguineo von Temeschwar - pick some people to discuss terms for securing their expert assistance.

The Chamber of Commerce

Temeschwari Chamber of Commerce

Vitore Van Temeschwar

Sebastian Adolphus von Temeschwar

Giuseppe Sanguineo von Temeschwar

Lyron Lyn

Valentina von Temeshwar

Piera di Sarvos

Anastasia Gordost von Temeschwar

Marcus Von Temeschwar

Laughlan Vi Temeschwar

Artem of Temeschwar

Katarina van Palantíri

Angelo Von Temeschwar

Tormecci Von Lace

Cassian Von Temeschwar

Baldritch Lace von Temeshwar

Vincent Blackburn

Patrizia

Ippolitta Zanetti di Temeschwar

Benedict Urban Di Tassato

Valentino Fontana di Sarvos

Grigoriy Krovokav von Temeschwar

Ivara Krovokav von Temeschwar

Daro van Temeschwari

Jan Tallows

• The rat plague shows no sign of subsiding
• The decision of what to do remains with the Chamber of Commerce
• There are currently three (four) possibilities
• The Rat Hunt adventure remains available to League citizens

The decision about what todo about the rats remains with the Chamber of Commerce. Both the Wardog Kennels of Temeschwar and the Guild of the Green Flower are prepared to offer their services. It's possible that the meeting with the Rat Kings might lead to a third possibility. Or the Chamber could continue to do nothing and see what happens next. As before, this latter will continue to be bad for some and good for others.

Every business owner in Temeschwar is part of the cities' Chamber of Commerce - including the Steinr grimnir Kylara of Wintermark. The egregore has worked with the civil service to secure an updated list of everyone eligible to vote. Discussion and vote will take place at three in the afternoon on Saturday; decision will be by show of hands among all those eligible. The opportunities on the table will be "Accept the offer of the Wardog Kennels", "Accept the offer of the Guild of the Green Flower", or "Ride it out." Deetails of the offers are the same as those presented last season (in the They bit the cats wind of fortune). If the Senator for Temeschwar wishes, the offer of the Rat Kings may also be presented.

It's probably just a coincidence that the meeting with Brinton von Temeschwar takes place after the vote of the Chamber of Commerce - the timing of a conjunction is in the hands of the Sentinel Gate, not any individual mortal after all.

Lorenzo's Deep Pockets

• The situation at Lorenzo's Deep Pockets is deteriorating
• There is something at large in the depths of the great mineworkings
• The Shuttered Lantern have made a report to their Grandmaster concerning their findings

As recounted at the Spring Equinox, something appears to have taken up residence in [[Lorenzo's Deep Pockets. it does not seem to be the same "something" that is bedevilling Temeschwar however. This particular horror is something all its own.

Before the Spring Equinox, a "fell wind" from the north-west was reported, blowing in off the Vardstein Vale. Since then, a significant number of workers have fallen sick, becoming listless and enervated, lacking the strength to work and barely having the inclination to eat and drink. What began with a handful of miners has spread widely, and fear has followed in its wake. It is uncertain exactly what is causing this sickness, and still nobody has died from it. But nobody gets better either.

Conclave agrees that the Shuttered Lantern should answer the call for help from the Fox and Fowl company. They are to investigate what has taken residence in Lorenzo's Deep Pockets and whether this related to what happened to the Company of the Torch. The Shuttered Lantern will uncover what is behind this new danger.

Grandmaster Tyburn of House De Rondell, on behalf of the Shuttered Lantern

In the end, the Shuttered Lantern have been called in. The magicians who visit the Bloody Great Hole are much more discreet than those active in Temeschwar. They have prepared a report for the Grandmaster, rather than revealing their discoveries publicly. They're not the only people in the tunnels though; the place is a site of adventure for many Imperial warbands and this season is no exception.

Between the mercenaries and a few comments from the Shuttered Lantern, three things have been discovered. There is something in the mine, something dangerous, and it is not trogoni or anything like that. It is something smart, and it is not alone; there are people or people-shaped things serving it. The air in the deep pockets has become "sour" - the sickness that is spreading among the workers comes from breathing the tainted air for too long. There is no easy way to tell when air has become tainted - or if there is the Shuttered Lantern has not revealed it. Finally, the situation is coming to a head. Nearly a third of the workers are now too ill to work, and more are having to be brought in.

This will impact the Bounty of the Deep Earth received by the Delver of the Depths. Following the Summer Solstice, they will receive 10 fewer weltsilver, 5 fewer tempest jade, and 4 fewer crystal mana.

It will also effect those who take part in the adventure to Explore the Depths. Their production will not change, but the captain of any military unit who undertakes the adventure will find a lingering traumatic wound in their pack. If left untreated, the wound might prove fatal. Or worse...

Hopefuly, the Grandmaster of the Shuttered Lantern will have some idea about how to proceed...

Participation

If your military unit took part in the Explore the Depths encounter this season, or you are a member of the Shuttered Lantern order, you are free to talk about the dreadful experiences in the depths of Lorenzo's Deep Pockets. The themes are of a lurking dread, swift-moving creatures glimpsed out of the corner of the eye, a feeling of being stalked, and the sudden unexpected stench of death and rot that vanishes almost as soon as it appears. You may also have caught a glimpse of some of the creatures lurking in the upper mine - pale, human-or-orc shaped, armed with improvised weapons and the occasional club or long knife. They never stay still for long enough to get a good look at them.

You'll also have heard about the disappearances - workers and mercenaries alike are disappearing around Lorenzo's Deep Pockets nad nobody knows what is happening to them.

Further Reading

• They bit the cats - 286YE Spring Wind of Fortune